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Statistics released by the home ministry regarding ‘foreign funds to NGOs’ show that India, which has a total of 33,937 registered associations, received Rs 12,289.63 crore in foreign contributions during 2006-07 as against Rs 7,877.57 crore in 2005-06, a substantial increase of nearly Rs 4,400 crore (56%) in just one year.

The US, Germany, the UK, Switzerland and Italy were the top five foreign contributors during 2006-07. These five countries have consistently been the big donors since 2004-05. Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, Canada and France are the other countries which figure prominently in the list of foreign donors. (via Foreign funds to Indian NGOs soar, Pak among donors-India-The Times of India).

Foreign 'aid' kitty - Table courtesy - Times of India

What does this mean …

Rs 12,289.63 crore is roughly US$3 billion – based on average dollar value for 2008.

The rich, the poor and the middle class in these ‘charitable countries’ are themselves deep in debt. Where are they getting the money from? Why are they being so liberal towards India? What is the source of these funds?

Or are these NGOs promoting policy frameworks which are distorting India’s social systems? The Population Myth /Problem /Explosion for instance was promoted for the first decade by Ford Foundation, the Carnegie Foundation and USAID. Are they behind the NGOs which are promoting Section 498 laws as a legal solution – a solution that ‘benefits’ about 5000 women and creates about 150,000 women as victims.

The ‘progressive liberal’ establishment in the West is viewed rather benignly in India – and seen as ‘well wishers’ of India. Many such ideas are welcomed in India without analysis. These ideas are viewed positively, as the source of such initiatives is seen as well-intentioned.

A ‘tolerant’ and ‘open’ society like India can be a complacent victim to trojan horses.

For centuries the monarch has constitutionally been the supreme governor of Church in England, the main emblems of establishment. Dr Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, suggested that he could see a day when the British monarch is removed as head of the Church of England. It would not be “the end of the world” if the Church of England was “disestablished,” he told the ‘New Statesman’ magazine. (via Labour party mulls ouster of Queen from Church of England).

A trial balloon …?

Justice Minister Jack Straw said in March that the government was “certainly ready to consider” reviewing the “antiquated” ban on Catholic monarchs.

Rules laid out in the Bill of Rights 1688, the Act of Settlement 1700 and the Act of Union 1706 state that the monarch must be a Protestant, and any royal who marries a Catholic is barred from the line of succession. (from’Britain mulls allowing Catholic monarchs: report in Hindustan Times)

Bush attends an Episcopal church in Washington and belongs to a Methodist church in Texas, and his political base is solidly evangelical. Yet this Protestant president has surrounded himself with Roman Catholic intellectuals, speechwriters, professors, priests, bishops and politicians. These Catholics — and thus Catholic social teaching — have for the past eight years been shaping Bush’s speeches, policies and legacy to a degree perhaps unprecedented in U.S. history.

The British split from the Roman Church was a political move that pushed the decline of Vatican’s power. Vatican’s refusal to grant Henry VIII’s a divorce was itself a political decision.

Mukherjee, who was addressing a global conference of over 122 Indian envoys, said that India will have to “deal with this problem” on its own, since international action against Pakistan has not been enough.

On Saturday, the political leadership discussed the option of precision strikes against terrorist targets on Pakistan-controlled territory. This marked the end of India’s restraint, in the face of Pakistan’s assurances made under pressure from the international community, particularly the US and UK.

Better late than never. At least Pranab Mukherjee understands that India is alone – and the Rest of the world cannot care for India’s problems. They have enough of their own. India has to manage this initiative alone. There cannot be another way.

Options Indian can consider.

Zardari wants to export cement and sugar to India. India has a large market for both – and can easily absorb Pakistani exports. Tie these Pakistani exports to quantitative achievements in shutting down terror camps in Pakistan.

Pakistan precarious financial position does not allow it the luxury of an arms race with India. Pakistan has access to Western technology for – in defence for RDX, machine guns, PACs, etc. The world must withdraw all technology from Pakistan for all arms and ammunition. No RDX, no tanks, no F-16s, no APCs. Pakistan must be put on strict diet of military technology blockade by the world. No less.

Pakistani Hindus (especially Dalits) are crucial to Pakistan. Announce a scheme for Hindu immigration from Pakistan to India. The loss of this 2% of Pakistani population can make life difficult for Pakistan. Facilitate their immigration to India.

Work with US, NATO, Afghan Governments to close down the Peshawar arms bazaar. This small time bazaar became the sourcing centre for terrorists all over the world. Initially, stocked up with arms from the CIA funded jihad against the Soviets in Afghanistan, Peshawar, has become a problem that never ends. If required, there should be a UN mandate to send in a multinational force to surround, capture and destroy this centre for arms and armaments.

Pakistan is at the crossroads of a jihadi, terrorist, criminal elements who have joined together and created an incendiary mash-up. Fueled by a drugs trade worth billions, arms trade worth millions and respectability, as they are ‘carrying out a religious jihad’.

How can India make this happen

Pakistan’s (valid) security concerns should be met with a tripartite agreement between China, India and Pakistan which will guarantee Pakistan’s current borders. No disputes, no claims from Pakistan have any legitimacy any more. Let Pakistan take care of its current territory and people. POK will remain with Pakistan – and current LOC will remain unchanged. So, Pakistan will not lose.

It has to be realpolitik. India can no longer give away benefits without quid pro quo. Make P&G, ABB, Alsthom, Renault, Unilever, Siemens, Pepsi and Coke earn their living. The Indian operations of these companies pack a mean heft. They must join in to secure the markets they wish to exploit. The US has to deliver. Peshawar markets must close down. The Pakistan defence production cannot be used against India. Pakistan has to deliver the criminal elements – dead or alive.

Indian co-operation with the West on the new world financial system will be based on co-operation by the West. India should move to create systems which allow political and social stabilization a rule – and not an exception.

These strategic elements of using Indian advantages to gain our ends is the way to forge ahead.

The Real Price of Gold — National Geographic Magazine; Photograph by Randy Olson

In all of history, only 161,000 tons of gold have been mined, barely enough to fill two Olympic-size swimming pools. More than half of that has been extracted in the past 50 years. Now the world’s richest deposits are fast being depleted, and new discoveries are rare. Gone are the hundred-mile-long gold reefs in South Africa or cherry-size nuggets in California. Most of the gold left to mine exists as traces buried in remote and fragile corners of the globe.

According to the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), there are between 10 million and 15 million so-called artisanal miners around the world, from Mongolia to Brazil. Employing crude methods that have hardly changed in centuries, they produce about 25 percent of the world’s gold and support a total of 100 million people. It’s a vital activity for these people—and deadly too.

At the other end of the spectrum are vast, open-pit mines run by the world’s largest mining companies. Using armadas of supersize machines, these big-footprint mines produce three-quarters of the world’s gold. They can also bring jobs, technologies, and development to forgotten frontiers.

Gold mining, however, generates more waste per ounce than any other metal, and the mines’ mind-bending disparities of scale show why: These gashes in the Earth are so massive they can be seen from space, yet the particles being mined in them are so microscopic that, in many cases, more than 200 could fit on the head of a pin.

Even at showcase mines, such as Newmont Mining Corporation’s Batu Hijau operation in eastern Indonesia, where $600 million has been spent to mitigate the environmental impact, there is no avoiding the brutal calculus of gold mining. Extracting a single ounce of gold there—the amount in a typical wedding ring—requires the removal of more than 250 tons of rock and ore. Lured by the benefits of operating in the developing world—lower costs, higher yields, fewer regulations—Newmont has generated tens of thousands of jobs in poor regions. But it has also come under attack for everything from ecological destruction to the forced relocation of villagers.

One of ten ‘eligible’ women is a sex worker. Is this a temporary spike or will it get ‘progressively’ worse?

Most prostitutes in Spain, like these photographed in Madrid in April, are persuaded to leave lives of hardship in South America, Africa and Eastern Europe with fake promises of work. | Photo - Cristina Arias, Getty Images; courtesy - aolnews.com .

Every day about 1.5 million Spaniards and foreigners pay for sex in the country’s cities and border regions, according to Malostratos, a Madrid-based group lobbying to outlaw prostitution.

Eighty percent of Spain’s 400,000 sex workers come from places including China, Romania and Latin America, many coerced by gangs, Equality Ministry figures show. In response, the government will bring into force measures on Jan. 1 to shelter and aid prostitutes who break away from traffickers. (via Bloomberg.com: News).

Not a gender issue - but a deeper systemic-societal design problem

Slice and dice …

Assume that half of these 13 million are the right gender – that is 6.5 million women. Assume further that a quarter of these 6.5 million women cannot ‘qualify’ to become prostitutes due to age, health, infirmity, deformity, appearance, etc.

There are almost 10,000 Muslims in Britain’s jails— with 90 of them serving time for terror offences … they fear more and more young lags are being converted and radicalised in prison. A … source said: “You are talking about rootless young men at the bottom of society. They’re in jail and someone gives them some purpose. ”

Britain has an estimated 1.6 million Muslims – a 2.8% of the British population. Of this a 10,000 are in prison – which means about 0.6% of the British Muslim population is in prison.India has 16 crore Muslims – which a 100 times higher population.

What if …

India were to follow the British policy of imprisonment, the Indian Muslim inside prisons would be in 10 lakhs (or 1 million). India’s total prison population ranges between 2.5 lakhs to 3.5 lakhs.

Of course, Indian society handles crime vastly differently. Technically, India could create a legal system which would ease the ability of the police to imprison people, or better still hang them – and hide its social problems.Or they could handle this differently – and humanely. Which is what is happening.

Is there an alternative …

Combine this with a low police-to-population ratio and low crime rates. What you have then, is a modern Indian conundrum. This is not supposed to happen. But then, in India, there is a 4000 year of history which makes low prison population, low police to population ratio and a low crime rate possible.

The other question is this wonder called Anglo Saxon system of justice, jurisprudence et al.

Saudi Arabia, OPEC’s de-facto leader, said today the group will slash a record 2 million barrels from its daily production as of January 1, while Russia and other countries said they would remove hundreds of thousands of additional barrels from the market.

An official decision to cut 2 million barrels from output all at once would be a first for the organization. OPEC had cut that amount from its output four years ago, but that was done in two stages.

Also significant would be formal support from Russia, Azerbaijan and other non-OPEC producers. Mexico, Norway and Russia slashed production in the late 1990s, at a time oil was selling for about $10 a barrel. (via OPEC to cut oil output by 2 mn barrels a day).

These price cuts may be difficult to sustain for a simple reason that Oil revenues are a significant part of Government revenues in these countries. While oil revenues are on a down ward drift – Government expenses are trending upwards. Combine this the recessionary global outlook, and pump priming will increase Government’s expense bills.

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